


End Times

by KaytheJay



Category: Good Omens (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25445644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaytheJay/pseuds/KaytheJay
Summary: What if the bookshop fire wasn't an accident?
Comments: 16
Kudos: 17





	End Times

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Aziraphale murmured. Gabriel had sent him a warning. He knew that whatever was about to happen was not going to be good. Aziraphale sighed in relief when Crowley picked up.

“Yeah, now’s not a good time, got an old friend here,” Crowley said before hanging up. Aziraphale could only stare at the phone. Crowley had _ never _ turned down one of his calls. Certainly never for an “old friend.” Who was more important? They were in the middle of saving the world. No “old friend” of Crowley’s should be more important than  _ that _ . 

Though, it seemed from Gabriel’s note, that he wouldn’t be having the chance to save it. Which was  _ precisely  _ why he’d wanted to call the demon to begin with. 

“Bloody idiot,” Aziraphale muttered as he headed to the back room of the shop. He needed to leave  _ something _ for Crowley. He had to make it quick. 

He wrote the note as quickly as he could while keeping it legible. Aziraphale felt the sudden presence of someone. He tried to write faster. There was so much he still needed to say, but he didn’t have the time to say it. He performed a small miracle on the paper to make it fire-resistant. 

“Hello Aziraphale,” Gabriel said flatly. Aziraphale stopped writing and stood.

“Gabriel! What a pleasant surprise,” Aziraphale said as brightly as he could manage. “H-how can I help you?”

“Sources tell me that you’ve been working  _ with _ a demon,” Gabriel said. He’d been waiting for this for years. Aziraphale had finally fucked up. Gabriel knocked over a stack of books just because he could. 

“I haven’t a c-clue what you’re on about,” Aziraphale lied. 

“Oh really?” Gabriel said with a smirk. “Let me just enlighten you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a number of pictures, all with Aziraphale and Crowley in them. There was the proof that Aziraphale had been hoping Gabriel didn’t have. “Are you still unsure? How many demons  _ have _ you been working with?” Gabriel pulled a vial out of his pocket. “Do you know what we do to traitors?” He rolled the vial between his fingers. The room buzzed with the sudden appearance of another being. Aziraphale felst strong hands grab hold of him and he already knew he had lost. “You remember Sandalphon?” Of course. Sandalphon. The closest thing Heaven had to a demon.

Sandalphon held Aziraphale to a chair. Gabriel them miracled the ropes tied around Aziraphale. Ropes with knots so complex that it would have taken the great Houdini ten years to get out of them. 

“Anything else you would like to say?” Aziraphale bit his lip to try and fight back the tears. Gavriel may have won, but he was not going to let Gabriel have the satisfaction of seeing him  _ cry _ . “Thought as much,” Gabriel said. “Your miracles have been revoked so don’t even try to get yourself out of this one.” Aziraphale closed his eyes.

“What’s it to be then?” Aziraphale asked, very well knowing the answer. Gabriel popped the top of the vial off. 

“Hellfire,” Gabriel said. “Obviously. That’s the only way to destroy an angel.” Gabriel studied the vial. “Come along, Sandalphon. You don’t want to get caught up in here when everything is done. Goodbye Aziraphale.” Aziraphale opened his eyes in time to see Gabriel throw the vial to the floor, sending a mix of Hellfire and glass shooting across the floor. Crowley was the last thought on his mind as the fire burned at his ankles. 

***

Hastur had been easy to take care of. He was dumber than a box of bricks, which made tricking him into getting stuck in the answering machine a really simple task. Crowley shook his head. 

“Me? Call the Dark Council?” Crowley laughed. “He deserved that since the bloke was that stupid.” He remembered that Aziraphale had called. He thought it best not to use a phone, as not to let Hastur out, so he decided to go straight to the bookshop. 

Crowley found an awful surprise. 

The bookshop had been reduced to a smoking pile of ask. If he hadn’t known that a building had once stood there, he wouldn’t know now. Everything was gone.

Crowley got out of the Bentley and walked over to the pile of ash. The smell of sulfur and broken dreams confirmed what he already suspected. And they wouldn’t have used it if Aziraphale hadn’t been in the shop. 

Crowley sniffed the air for signs of the angel. Anything at all that might suggest the angel might have survived. He kicked at the ashes when he couldn’t pick anything up. He revealed a white sheet of paper. It had Aziraphale’s handwriting. 

_ Crowley, _

_ Hello dear, it seems that all this time has finally caught up with me. Gabriel has sent me a note saying he knows what I’ve done and he’s coming for me. I suspect Hellfire. I love you, my dear. I have since the beginning. Please don’t forget to save _

The note ended right there. Crowley assumed it had ended abruptly because Gabriel had shown up. Shown up and destroyed everything. 

Including Aziraphale. 

Crowley also assumed that the rest of the note had been “please don’t forget to save the world,” but the world didn’t seem to be worth saving anymore. Aziraphale had been the first of the two of them to fall in love with humans. All of their fancy music and nice restaurants. Their little inventions and the sense of  _ belonging _ that they built together. Crowley had learned to love it because of how much Aziraphale loved it. 

He refused to let go of the note. It as the last thing he had of Aziraphale. It was the last thing  _ anyone  _ had of the angel. The bookshop had held everything of his. Now that was gone. 

He eventually ended up back at his own apartment. Drunker than he’d ever been in the history of the world, but he didn’t care. He’d thought the alcohol would numb the pain. Perhaps with enough of it, it would make him forget Aziraphale all together. This plan, of course, didn’t work. It only focused his thoughts on the lost angel even more. Six thousand years of friendship just gone. Nothing left of it. Burned to a crisp with the rest of the bookshop. Aziraphale was gone. Crowley would have to spend the rest of eternity without his best friend. The angel was gone. He would  _ never _ see Aziraphale again. Not even accidentally. 

***

The only reason Crowley continued his search for the Antichrist was that it had been Azirphale’s final wish. The absolute least he could do to honor the angel’s death was to do what the angel had been trying to do. 

His little quest led him straight to an airbase near Tadfield. Funny how life ran circles around itself. This was also very close to where the start of it all began eleven years ago. 

The whole thing went down it seemed that the Antichrist himself had everything under control. He commanded who Crowley could only guess were his friends around to fight War, Famine, and Pollution respectively. Crowley thought (hoped) that it was over. 

Beelzebub and an archangel made an appearance. 

_ The _ archangel. 

_ Fucking Gabriel. _

Crowley didn’t give the angel time to speak. He ran over and restrained the angel before anything else could happen. Gabriel glared at Beelzebub. 

“You didn’t take care of him?” Gabriel demanded. Beelzebub shrugged. 

“Didn’t feel important at the time,” Beelzebub responded nonchalantly. 

“I am going to melt your fucking face off,” Crowley said through gritted teeth. “And don’t think I won’t.” Beelzebub watched with sudden interest. If Crowley actually went through with it then perhaps his crimes could be forgiven. Gabriel sneered. 

“Oh look,” He taunted, “Maybe demons  _ do _ have feelings.” Beelzebub raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Crowley’s hand caught fire. 

“Do you think I’m playing?” He put his hand against Gabriel’s jacket and urged the fire to move as quickly as possible. Within seconds, nothing remained of Gabriel.

“Well done, Crowley,” Beelzebub said, genuinely impressed. They had known Crowley was capable of destroying eternal beings (as he had holy watered Ligur) but they had been beginning to question his loyalty to hell.

“Don’t think I did that for you,” Crowley snarled. Beelzebub rolled their eyes. 

“It may not have been  _ directly _ for me, but it was still an act for  _ Hell _ .” 

“Vengence,” Crowley corrected. “It was an act of vengeance.” He spat at the spot where Gabriel had stood. The angel deserved no respect. Pulling an angel from existence with no proof. Aziraphale was only doing his job. 

Beelzebub began talking to Adam, trying to get him to restart the war. Adam, having worked so hard to  _ stop _ the war and no longer having the desire to burn down the world, said no. In their shock of being told by a human child, Beelzebub retreated to Hell and told Satan of his disobedient child. Of course, Satan wanted to make a scene of this nonsense. Crowley saw this as an opportunity to inform Adam of what it is  _ exactly _ that his powers do. Adam was able to successfully repress Satan. 

So the world had been saved. Whoopty doo. It wasn’t like it meant much. To Crowley anyway. Now Crowley had to figure out how to live forever without Aziraphale. 

***

The next morning, everyone would wake to a world that was almost, but not quite the world they had fallen asleep to. 

Crowley awoke to someone snoring in his bed when he was quite certain that he hadn’t brought anyone home the night before. He rolled over to see who it was. 

_ Aziraphale.  _

**Author's Note:**

> Hits and kudos mean the world to me. Comments fuel me into next week.   
> Find me on Tumblr @justanangelandhisdemon


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